Page 72 of My Solemn Vow

The two cards flick out easily from where I tucked them, andI hand over her new ID and the credit card connected directly to mine.

“Valor,” she huffs, frustrated, looking at the two of them. Then Antonella offers the credit card back to me. “I explained.”

“Wasn’t offering, princess.” I don’t accept it back, picking up her suitcase instead. “Gregorio may feel obligated to take care of you per your father’s wishes, but it’s my honor and duty to make sure you’re cared for. There’s an expectation of our people that you’re well taken care of.”

At least I’m getting good at not calling it the pack in front of her. No more slipups.

She grabs her garment bag and follows me as I carry the suitcases upstairs. “Well, the good news is that I’m well stocked with clothes, and I believe I can meet those expectations of your people with my salary. Rothschild-McClintock Magnet School pays quite well.”

“They better,” I grumble. Kerrianne is worth every dollar I’ve put into the school and the tuition I pay, but I never considered looking into the teachers’ salaries. But she’s either misunderstanding that it’s supposed to be my privilege to make sure she’s well taken care of or she feels like she needs to prove something to the pack. That privilege is one I gladly embrace. “Let me take care of you.”

My heart aches with that. Soul deep. I want to take care of her.Maybe the damn wolf is right. She could be ours.

34

ANTONELLA

SKIN DEEP

Valor carries the boxes to the second floor, where the bedroom is, and sets them down inside the massive walk-in closet.

“Books and other —” But his phone rings. Valor looks down at the screen and shakes his head. He raises a finger to indicate that I give him one minute before answering. “Valor.”

His phone volume is low, and I can’t hear the caller. “No, bring him through the back. Don’t be stupid. I don’t want blood all over my floor. Just because I have a wife doesn’t mean she needs to do housework.”

Valor rolls his eyes at me. “Yeah, we’ll be down in twenty minutes. Don’t bother securing the delivery. We can do it ourselves.”

Valor hangs up and sighs. He starts taking off his dress shirt. “Change of plans. I’ve got to work, and I need your help.”

“Okay.” I draw that out, eyeing him. “What are we doing?”

“What I do best?” Mischief lights up his eyes. “Put on clothes you don’t care about getting bloody.”

I was so naive to think we’d never come to this point. It was so easy to get caught up in the changes of my life, but of course the real world had to come crashing in aroundme. The way Berto described Valor comes flooding back. The cruel words and ghastly stories of the state of the bodies we managed to get back from the Cavanaghs fill my brain.He fillets the skin right off the muscle, a thousand little cuts...I force Berto’s words from my mind.

Without argument, I pick up one of my suitcases and pull it over to a box to stack it. We change in silence, and when I put my hair up into a bun, I can’t take the silence anymore. I can’t take the noise in my head that I keep trying to block out.

The words come out in quick succession before I can overthink them. “Is it true what they say about you?”

“Depends on what they say,” Valor answers, propped against the frame of the built-in closet doing something on his phone, but he puts it away.

With his head cocked, a glint passes through his eye. It’s almost like they turn a different color for a moment.

“That you hurt others to get information?” I dance around the gruesome words and beg my stomach and its contents to stay in place.

“Is that really what you want to ask?” Valor steps forward, his eyes gleaming and changing again as he walks toward me.

I wonder if my eyes look weird in this light too?

He’s well within reach. Warmth radiates off his body, practically begging me to touch him.

“You know I hurt people for information.” Valor raises his hand slowly toward me. He pulls one of the short strands of my hair back out of my face and brings it back along my head, gently tucking it under the elastic band. “What you really want to know is if I enjoy it.”

My mouth is dry, and I try to swallow. It’s hard and I’m uneasy. But I nod a response for him.

“Yes,” Valor says coolly. “I enjoy my work. I’m good at it. I don’t expect you to like it. But I need you to see it for yourself. You need to be eyes wide open in this marriage. It’s been tooeasy of a life this week. The D’Medicis were our largest and most vocal enemies, but that doesn’t make them the only ones.”

I draw shallow, steadying breaths. We’re both stuck, examining each other, watching for something unknown to pass between us.